13.9.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 264/96

—

having regard to Rule 123 of its Rules of Procedure,

A.

whereas vaccine-preventable diseases, including hepatitis, measles, pneumococcal disease, rotavirus diarrhoea, polio and yellow fever, constitute a major cause of childhood deaths in the developing world;

B.

whereas disease prevalence is a barrier to achieving sustainable socio-economic development;

C.

whereas vaccine-preventable diseases are known to affect women and men differently;

D.

whereas women make up half the global population, and whereas development and health cannot be achieved if their voices are ignored;

E.

whereas basic health care – hospitals, doctors, nurses, medical equipment and so on – is vitally important and should not be neglected;

F.

whereas the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) has been recognised as a highly efficient means by which to achieve development and humanitarian objectives;

G.

whereas, in the past decade, GAVI has made great progress in saving lives and expanding immunisation coverage in the world’s poorest countries, and whereas, as a result, 288 million more children have been immunised and more than five million future deaths prevented;

H.

whereas, despite these advances, 1,7 million children die from vaccine-preventable diseases every year;

1.

Congratulates the Commission on the support it has given to the GAVI via the Development Cooperation Instrument and the European Development Fund between 2003 and 2012;

2.

Urges the Commission to make a continued commitment to reducing the number of vaccine-preventable deaths in its future external actions;

3.

Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories (1), to the parliaments of the Member States.